Militants Intend to Hold up India’s Economic Boom: US

Though belatedly, a US department report recognizes that a series of terrorist attacks on India by Islamic extremist groups like the one on Mumbai were designed to strain Indo-Pak relations and to hold up India’s economic upsurge.

The State Department’s annual report released on Thursday reveals that India, one of world’s most terrorism-afflicted countries in 2008, was at the centre of many attacks both from external militant outfits and internal separatist entities.

According  to report, India assessed that South Asian Islamic extremist groups including Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, and Bangladesh based Harakat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami, were behind several of these attacks.

“The Government of India believed these attacks were aimed at creating a break-down in India-Pakistan relations, fostering Hindu-Muslim violence within India, and harming India’s commercial centres to impede India’s economic resurgence,” it said.

Pointing at lacunae in Indian intelligence, policing and judicial machinery, the report indicates that in the face of an apparent commitment to eliminate violent extremism, India’s endeavours to check terrorism did not turn out much successful due to the lack of coordination between regional authorities and an inefficient legal system.

“Although clearly committed to combating violent extremism, the Indian government’s counterterrorism efforts remained hampered by its outdated and overburdened law enforcement and legal systems,” the report said.

The report described Mumbai terror attack as “a pivotal moment that is now called 26/11”, the terrorists appeared to have been well-trained and took advantage of technology, such as Global Positioning System trackers.

The report adds, “But local and state police proved to be poorly trained and equipped and lacked central control to coordinate an effective response.”